McAfee Patents Technology to Detect and Block Pirated Content

[nsane.forums]

Security software company McAfee has patented a new technology that aims to prevent the public from accessing pirated movies and music online. The system, which expands the SiteAdvisor tool, can detect and block pirated material from any website and present users with authorized and legal alternatives. McAfee says the technology will help steer consumers to authorized services and thereby prevent costly lawsuits.

For years copyright holders have urged search engines and Internet providers to make it harder for users to access infringing content online.

Thus far these efforts have been in vain, but anti-virus vendor McAfee has now presented a technology that will please rightholders. A new patent published by the California-based company describes a system that can prevent users from accessing pirate content.

Titled “Detect and prevent illegal consumption of content on the internet,” the patent covers a blocklist-type system that can either warn consumers, completely block access to web pages, or offer purchasing advice.

The flow-chart below shows the various steps involved.

Pirate or not?

According to McAfee there are many reasons for consumers and corporations to be concerned with the downloading of illegal content, ranging from legal risks to malware and virus threats.

“One major reason for concern is possible violation of an Intellectual Property right and the potential cost ramifications associated with such a violation,” the company explains.

“A second major concern could relate to potential threats cause by some unauthorized distributions. For example, it is not uncommon for an unauthorized distribution of material on the Internet to include malicious material.”

McAfee presents their solution as an extension to its widely used SiteAdvisor tool, targeted at both individual consumers and business clients. Threats can be detected in search engines where pirate results get a warning label, but also on social networks including Facebook.

Piracy indicator in Google

In addition to blocking access to pirated content the technology also has the capability to point users to legal alternative sources for the same, or similar content.

“By informing a user of illegal sources and possible alternatives, a user can obtain the desired electronic distribution without violating an author’s intellectual property rights,” McAfee writes.

Those who click on a pirate link will be pointed to a new screen where users can learn more about the warning. Depending on how the software is set up users may then take the risk and click through to the site. This is similar to how Google, Firefox and other online services already respond to links pointing to malware threats.

Piracy indicator in Google

By preventing people from inadvertently visiting pirate websites, McAfee hopes that the technology will educate consumers on how to make the right choices when looking for entertainment online.

Whether there are any concrete plans to roll out the system is unknown at this point. The most likely option is that it will be added to McAfee’s existing security products.

If so, we can expect copyright holders to push for a wide adoption of the software.

View: Original Article

[Ambrocious]

I don't need a police officer in my computer forcing me to be a good boy, I'll stick with a more loyal security suit, one that doesn't make me feel as though Im being persecuted for being a file sharer.

[liverpal]

useless

[Cypher3927]

Maybe McAfee should redirect all that time and energy into more useful endeavors...such as creating an antivirus suite that isn't total :shit:.

[speedpedal]

Hmmmn ... well if this works it will be the only thing they've got to work right.

[sirri]

SiteAdvisor was crap and useless :D

they'd better to improve their security suite

[Marik]

and now they're going to loose whatever customers they still have :tehe:

[dcs18]

Hmmmn ... well if this works it will be the only thing they've got to work right.

Even if given the benefit of doubt that it would work - there wont be be any guinea pigs left to find out. :think:

[bigcid10]

UT OH,I see a major lawsuit coming,that's a total violation of something

[ande]

As Marik said reason more not to use McAfee.

UT OH,I see a major lawsuit coming,that's a total violation of something

:lol:

[dMog]

yea that will get them people running the the nearest store to buy their software now...not

[calguyhunk]

Sounds like senior managers and those in charge of product development at McAfee are just as delusional as their eponymous founder LOL! :lol:

[LiLmEgZ]

Beware Pirates: McAfee Plans To Detect AND Block Infringing Content In Your Web Browser!

McAfee has patented technology to detect and block pirated content within a web browser, impeding access to sites that infringe copyrights and redirecting users to approved content sources instead.

Copyright holders have been fighting with every weapon in their arsenals against the threat of piracy, from making viewers sit through preachy ads on DVDs that they’ve already purchased, to sending out threatening letters to those they believe to have illegally obtained content, and even suing individuals for incredible amounts of money.

Yet despite these efforts, and many more – including lobbying for legislation, such as the controversial SOPA and PIPA proposals, to deal with the issue more forcefully – piracy continues to thrive. The multibillion dollar entertainment industries are, unsurprisingly, furious at this state of affairs.

The fight has also been taken to internet service providers (ISPs), with some success. In the UK, for example, ISPs have begun to actively block certain websites that are known to facilitate access to pirated content. But, as TorrentFreak reports, access to such sites could soon be blocked on a browser level, following a patent awarded to security specialists McAfee.

The patent is to “detect and prevent illegal consumption of content on the internet”, and aims to identify when a user is attempting to access infringing content, prevent them from accessing it, and steer them towards a legal source of the content instead.

When attempting to access a site potentially providing an illegal stream or torrent of a movie, for example, the browser would actively intercept the URL request and ‘direct it to an intermediary server for analysis’, where it would be reviewed against a database of relevant information that would inform how the access request should be handled. If any red flags are raised, the user would be presented with a warning and offered an alternative, legitimate source (such as iTunes or Netflix) from which the movie could be viewed.

In the patent, McAfee points to the technology as being a development of its existing ‘SiteAdvisor’ tool. While the company acknowledges the obvious benefits to rights-holders with regard to protecting intellectual properties, McAfee adds that there is also an important security aspect to its proposals. It states that this “concern could relate to some potential threats caused by some unauthorized distributions. For example, it is not uncommon for an unauthorized distribution of material on the Internet to include malicious material.”

McAfee has made no announcements about plans to implement the technology in practice, but it’s not hard to see how popular this would be for the entertainment industries if it were to be implemented, and how hard they'll be pushing for its deployment. It seems inevitable that the company will roll out some version of this as part of its SiteAdvisor suite, although for those wishing to continue accessing pirated content, the solution to working around this obstacle seems pretty simple: avoid McAfee products.

Original Article: http://www.neowin.net/news/beware-pirates-mcafee-plans-to-detect-and-block-infringing-content-in-the-browser

[lookmann]

one interesting thing. ESET blocks nsane.down URL as seen from their forum discussion. Link below;

http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=344854

however, for me, the cracks never worked as for as eset is concerned [twice bitten, never again]

[GRiM]

This has already been posted about, no need to post it again.

[GRiM]

one interesting thing. ESET blocks nsane.down URL as seen from their forum discussion. Link below;

http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=344854

however, for me, the cracks never worked as for as eset is concerned [twice bitten, never again]

Then you're obviously doing something wrong like not disabling module updates during install for example. The fixes like Purefix/box mara work perfect.

[satanic]

Who cares on McAfee ? There are better Scanners

[DKT27]

Threads merged.